Hunting
by FroZehn
Summary: An action-packed Touchdown match: A day in the life of an expert defender. S4 Oneshot. Made partly for fun, partly as a submission to the S4 Writing Contest.


Hunting

_The Tale of the Cannoneer_

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><p>The Cannoneer raised her weapon high, as a hailstorm of bullets and lasers whizzed by her, and nearly clipped her wings as she strafed left and right high above Station Two. She was known as the Blue Dragon, a deadly accurate sniper clad in blue armor, and sporting her powerful Dragonade as her weapon of choice. Her wings lifted her high above the ground, and gave her the perfect vantage point for pinpoint defense of her side of the field. She loved the thrill of hovering high above, carried on her magnificent blue wings, where the rest of the world meant little to her. It was only her and her target that mattered.<p>

She took her time to let the Dragonade gather enough energy to be fully charged, and it alerted her with a beep and a rumble as the immense amount if energy vibrated vigorously in her small hands. She quickly scanned the ground below, and picked out a target: an enemy Railgunner who had been picking off several of her teammates who had been trying to score a goal by running up the ramp to their left, into the enemy base. They were quick, but there were not enough of them to reach the goal before being picked off. As she took aim at the sniper, his head focused in her scope, he suddenly turned and fired at her; the blue beam screeched past her a foot to the right, heating the air around it to an unbearable, scorching haze. The Cannoneer immediately returned fire, and the golden beam of light tore through him, exploding on impact and catching yet another enemy in the blast. Both enemies were thrown backwards and disintegrated into a fine green paste, and forced to wait until their data could reboot and they could rejoin the fight.

The Cannoneer let herself drop to the floor in her base, and forced another round into her Dragonade. The Fumbi had reset, and she had some time to prepare herself before it was picked up again. Surprisingly though, she was alone by her goal, and as she checked the score, she noticed many of her teammates that had defended with her had been taken down. She scanned the base suspiciously, but saw nothing. Suddenly, though, the air behind her shifted, and she blindly dodged to the left, barely dodging a dagger that, if she had not moved seconds before, would have been thrust right through her chest. The man with the knife did not waste time and rushed at her again, but this time she was prepared. As he charged at her, the Crow materialized in her hands, and she raised her Revenge stance in anticipation of his attack. His dagger connected with her shield, and flew from the man's hands and slid across the floor. He fell and reached for the weapon, but was too late, as the Cannoneer clutched the poor mans head in her massive claw, lifted him up off his feet and slammed him into the wall. The resistance in her hand vanished as the man disintegrated, and she closed her hand tightly and held up her shield, ready to fight off any more invaders. None came, though, and her teammates reappeared inside the base and set up their defense, a Sentry Gun going down on each side of the goal, and a Railgunner positioned by the bridge. This defense was well timed, as the enemy Striker had already picked up the Fumbi and was headed towards the ramp with several of his teammates.

The Cannoneer knew this Striker was skilled, and extremely quick. He'd already scored several goals against her team during the first half. This time though, he'd made a fatal mistake. He'd run too far ahead of his team, leaving himself exposed on the ramp. The Cannoneer took wing, and as the Striker rounded the wall and took the final dash to the goal, dashing and dodging left and right, avoiding every shot that filled the air from the other defenders, she fired a fully charged beam from her Dragonade, aiming not him, but the ground just ahead of him and to his right. The beam exploded on the floor next to him, and he was sent flying to the left, off the edge of the ramp and to his death. The ball reset as he reached the bottom of the playing field and was rebooted back at his base. The rest of his team, which was following a ways behind him, was forced to run back to the ball and pick it up again. They weren't fast enough though, and one of the Strikers on the Cannoneers team reached the ball first. She took the shorter route to the goal, the elevator, and quickly scored before the enemy could mount a decent enough defense.

The score was even now, and there was two minutes left on the clock for the second half. Both teams spawned after the short countdown, and the Cannoneer immediately took flight and fired a charged round at the enemy team jumping down their elevator, scoring a glancing hit on several of their team at once. She picked off several enemies after that, her blasts propelling several of them off the field, and taking down yet another enemy sniper with a shot to the head. Her team's Striker had failed to get to the goal, though, and the enemy had reset the ball and picked it up, taking the elevator this time for a fast score. The Cannoneer fired a charged shot, taking down the Striker, but yet another enemy Striker picked up the ball right away. The Cannoneer dropped to the ground, and warped in her Crow again. She positioned herself on the edge of the bridge and launched a fierce uppercut, just in time to connect with the approaching Striker, and send him flying across the field to land by the train. His energy was already drained from carrying the ball, which constantly sapped his endurance, and so he was far to slow to reach the goal then. There were still several enemies still backing him up, though, and the Cannoneer's Heavy Machine Gun appeared in her hands and began winding up, and then released a torrent of powerful bullets that struck most of the enemy team, including the Striker. The machine gun fire was enough to take down several of them, and the rest were quickly dispatched by the rest of her team. Her gun slowly stopped spinning, the barrel red hot and smoking. She breathed in the gun-smoke, reveled in it's bitter, metal taste, and spread her wings again, prowling the skies for her next kill.

The players down below looked like insects that she could swoop down and tear to shreds whenever she pleased. It was an exhilarating feeling of power and omnipotence. Her cannon flashed again and again, raining death across the battlefield. She need not look at the scores to know how many she'd killed; every last one was burned into her mind as yet another triumph of her skill and power. As her team's Striker took the ball again, the Cannoneer hovered high above the field, and fired into the enemy base, destroying their walls and Sentries. The Striker was near the goal, but several men stood in the way, one with a Taser Sword ready to guard the goal at all costs. As the Striker closed in, the Cannoneer fired on the sword-user, knocking him well out of the way, and causing his attack to miss. The Striker scored, and the team cheered. There was thirty seconds left on the clock, and the score was now in favor of the Cannoneer. As what would surely be the final round began, she and the rest of her team held their ground, and allowed nothing through until the timer struck zero. As the scoreboards showed, the Cannoneer acknowledged her modest score at third place overall, behind only both team's Strikers. It meant little to her, as she knew her role was not one that scored highly, and the room quickly emptied, save for a few friends of the Cannoneer's who wanted to stay and enjoy her company. It wasn't long before the field filled up again, and both team were once again ready for a fight. There were quite a few worthy opponents this time around, and the Cannoneer looked forward to a few new capable opponents; she looked forward to hunting them down.

The stage was set, and the teams at their bases. The countdown began: Five, four, three, two, one...

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><p>R&amp;R Please! ;)<p> 


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